However, not too many readers will agree with the article's author that Carter and Clinton were "workaholics."
Most of Clinton's trips abroad were vacations away from Washington, if not blatant fund-raising junkets.
Posted on 08/10/2005 5:30:08 AM PDT by OESY
Sweltering in August and swarming with grasshoppers, the Prairie Chapel ranch in Crawford, Texas, isn't everyone's idea of paradise. But a captive press corps and a slow summer news cycle are allowing President Bush to use the Crawford backdrop to push his agenda....
Operating from... the "Western White House," Mr. Bush devoted last week to touting his legislative success in pushing a Central American trade agreement through Congress as well as a bankruptcy overhaul bill. On Monday, Mr. Bush extolled the administration-backed energy bill. Yesterday he praised highlights of the economy, and today he will speak about the recently passed highway bill. Tomorrow, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at his side, Mr. Bush will talk up what he views as progress in Iraq....
The president's critics frequently seize on his vacations as fodder for portraying him as an absentee White House resident. He has taken more than 300 days of vacation (not all of it in Crawford) during five years in office, eclipsing workaholics such as Jimmy Carter (79 vacation days in one term) and Bill Clinton (152 vacation days during two terms).
But Mr. Bush's August holidays also demonstrate how the administration adroitly times and airs its message. With Congress out of session, many Washington agencies on a vacation schedule and a traveling contingent of White House reporters cooling their heels in Crawford, Mr. Bush can count on dictating news coverage with a series of events that rely heavily on rhetoric and skimp on audience participation....
Using Crawford as a base for getting his word out has served Mr. Bush well in the past..., allowing Mr. Bush to burnish his image as a tough ranch hand who approaches the world's problems with a chain saw and a pair of sturdy work boots....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Perfect. On another note, there was a story on FOX about Judge Roberts visiting Capitol Hill yesterday to meet with Sen Wyden. They comment was it was hard to find anybody up there to talk to since all were on vacation. Think that might have been planned by the WH?
Meanwhile, Congress seems to have a recess every other week and when it is in session, barely works from Tuesday through Friday.
The media elite abhor rural America, so they must just loathe the president's annual August stint in Crawford.
Not that that is a BAD thing...
Clinton was a "workaholic". If anyone mentioned work, he'd go out and get drunk.
LOL.....Looks like "W" has his news releases planned so the MSM must stay put in Texas....No real down time...A day on, day off, day on, two days off, day on...They don't dare not be there.....Poor dears.
The fact is that Bush, like Reagan, liked his home away from Washington. For them Washington was a means to an end.
For Carter and Clinton the White House was the only goal. They loved the imperialmness of it all. Policy was secondary while America's welfare a distant third.
When the story is finally written about this Presidency, it will show what a master player W is.
If President Bush were hanging out at Martha's Vineyard with James Taylor and Carly Simon, his vacation time might ruffle my feathers.....
In Clinton's case, do all-night pizza parties count as "work"?
Presidents don't go on vacation. They just change venues. The WH Press Corps makes this annual non-story frontpage news. Why? They don't like GWB and Crawford, Texas.
Bill Clinton at work in the Oval Office: Oooooh! Work it baby, work it! Ooooooouuuuuugh!
Yelp! "W" a Texan poker player through and through.....Never bet against him or try to bluff him.
Congress seems to have a recess every other week and when it is in session, barely works from Tuesday through Friday.
Not that that is a BAD thing...
I agree with you in principle but when all the budget bills aren't passed and it costs us extra money in continuing resolutions and last minute hidden addons by "unanimous consent" and voice votes, they're not doing they're job and we're getting screwed.
I'm glad we don't have a President anymore who stays up until the wee hours playing cards.
The Clintons' had no where to go...they didn't have a home. They had to have an "invitation" before they could venture outside the White House.
I've noticed how G.W. is being covered far more with clips shown in longer bites than usual. It's evident he planned this vacation to take advantage that everyone else was gone so the media is left with little choice BUT to cover him. Usually they try to ignore him and give their spin of what he said instead. Usually his vacations are more quiet as well, but this one has one scheduled event after another.
He pulled one over on the rest of the politicians with this trip.
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